St. Thomas opened up a 1 1-2-game lead atop the 20-game conference race with a 5-1 mark with four teams at 3-2 and two others at 3-3.
Coach Steve Fritz won his 449th game in 26 seasons and the Tommies handed rival St. John's the worst loss in the series since at least 1980, covering 59 meetings. The Tommies have won four in a row and six of the last seven games vs. the Johnnies.
St. John's last lead was at 15-14, but Keating scored nine points to fuel a 25-9 half-ending run that let the Toms take a 39-24 halftime lead. St. Thomas outscored the Johnnies 38-8 in the first 12 minutes of the second half and had the rare luxury of pulling its starters with 9:00 to go.
Coming off a 62-59 home loss to eighth-place Augsburg two days earlier, the first-place Tommies shot 51% from the field (30-of-59) , had just six turnovers, and outrebounded St. John's 42-33.
Senior forward Joey Shimek had 10 points while senior guard Sean Sweeney and junior guard Bryan Schnettler each scored nine points.
Rosefelt had his 21st double-double in 37 games at St. Thomas.
Junior guard Tyler Westman led St. John's with eight points. The Johnnies had 18 turnovers and shot just 32% from the field (17-of-54).
http://www.stthomas.edu/tommies/MBB/stats/1-4-mbb.htm
http://www.stthomas.edu/tommies/MBB/stats/1-4-mbb.htm